We slipped lines and motored out of Castelstrado. As soon as we were outside the marina walls we hoisted our sail and set our course for Stintino. The wind was westerly and between 10 and 15kts. We were determined to do this 21 mile passage under sail and so we did. After only 5 tacking manoeuvres we arrived at Statino. We hoisted sails at 11:00 and arrived at the entrance of Statino at 16:45. A voyage of 5:45 with a total distance covered of 33.4 miles.

The marina is very pleasant, clean and tidy and we made our way to the office and very pleasant welcome from Massimilian, the office manager. He couldn’t do enough for us, with plenary of local knowledge, from local anchorage on nearby beaches, moorings buoys on the nearby island of Asinara to restaurants in town. He even offered us the free use of the marina courtesy car, which we declined as we wanted to walk, but its good to know, should we want to explore further a field.

We then continued into the town, which is a small dwelling on 1800 residence. The town is totally unspoilt and its main industry is fishing. A very peaceful and tranquil place.

Before departing I noticed a fishing boat entering our marina not 100 metres from Arctura and so i investigated. After a quick chit chat with the fisherman I ascertained that their product was up for sale and so i bought a couple of sea bream for consumption later on into our trip.

So we readied Arctura and left for Castelstrado, slipping lines at 10:53 and raising sail as soon as we were outside the harbour entrance. Great downwind sailing all the way to the entrance of Castelstrado with speed topping 7.6 knots. We moored up against another Dufour, but slightly bigger at 50 feet. A pleasant English couple on board, Sarah and Shawn. We decided to stay two nights and will walk up to Castelstrado tomorrow. Fantastic supermarket, not 100 metres from our berth and fully stocked with typical Italian foods with a fantastic meat and cheese counter. A large supermarket that caters for the local residents as well as the visitors to the marina.